As is well known to those skilled in the art, many automatic transmissions include manual valve assemblies capable of directing fluid flow between a fluid source and a fluid-actuating device in the transmission.
Currently, there exists an automatic transmission system having a cam controlled manual valve assembly. A valve pin, connected to the manual valve, is disposed in camming relationship with a cam groove of a manual lever such that when the manual lever is rotated, the pin travels within the cam groove to move the manual valve to a predetermined operating mode position (PRNDL). A thorough discussion of such a cam controlled manual valve assembly is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,961 ('961) issued on Apr. 17, 1990, to Holbrook et al. and entitled "Cam-Controlled Manual Valve In An Automatic Transmission," which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Recently, however, attempts have been made to incorporate an electronic sensing system with the manual valve assembly. Known electronic sensing systems include electrically conductive and non-conductive areas disposed on a contact surface of the manual lever. An electrical sensor unit or transmission range sensor (TRS) is mounted in a position to communicate with the contact surface of the manual lever. Four electrical contact pins engage the conductive and non-conductive areas on the manual lever and generate a binary code having combinations thereof that represent each of the shift lever positions and transition areas. A thorough discussion of such a transmission sensing system is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,083 ('083) issued on Jun. 28, 1994 to Nassar et al. and entitled "Manual Valve Position Sensing System," which is hereby incorporated by reference.
It should be appreciated to those skilled in the art that the alignment of the contact pins relative to the conductive and non-conductive areas of the manual lever and further relative to the spring detent is crucial in order to ensure the correct binary code is generated for each operating mode of the manual valve. However, it should further be appreciated that dimensional variations may cause misalignment of the transmission range sensor during assembly, thereby failing to maximize the functional reliability of the sensor system.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the relevant art to provide an adjustable solenoid assembly capable of being simply and conveniently positioned to accommodate dimensional variations in system components, thereby properly positioning a transmission range sensor relative to a fixed position.